Monday, October 29, 2007

Poetry Train Monday - 23 - The Red Joy at Last

















The Red Joy at Last

On battlefields he'd watched it spray
Spattering cross his face
Slickening his hold on the
Pommel as he swung

His horse's hooves swirled the
Russet color of it
Sucking through mud and men's sodden hair
Floating facedown

The smell of it
Clings to his memory
Slime of a man
Swiped from his cheek

He'd seen this look before
Most often from a height
The solid weight of warhorse
Dearer than a lover


Now he steps close
Fear rich as lust
He hears the heart clench
Pulse like rain on his tongue

Shining terror turns
Blue eyes into torch flame
Lighting his way
To the feast

Fangs descend against lips
Curling back
Arms pull the trembling man close
Dearer than a lover



The night's battle looms
No sword for such as he
Could this man have been
A shield brother once?

His worth shines like gold
Twin points sink deep
He sighs as he tastes of
The red joy at last







Copyright - Julia Smith - October 28, 2007

17 comments:

Jill said...

Your poem makes me thing of a a man on a battlefield slowly changing into a werewolf... And I like the way you express the changements in his mood...

Ann said...

Spooky! Excellent!

Tempest Knight said...

Wow... love the images!

Anonymous said...

I liked the way it develops slowly.. Great wpost!

Ire said...

The images are spooky...very well crafted!

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Well, that's a twist I wasn't expecting! Very vivid and real, Julia. Great one!

Rhian said...

wahoo! that was freaking AWESOME!!!
loved this:
"The smell of it
Clings to his memory
Slime of a man
Swiped from his cheek"

you rock Julia!

Red Garnier said...

Julia, wow, this is amazing. Spooky and very vivid...I LOVED it!!! ;)

Akelamalu said...

Excellent!

Anne D said...

Very Vivid, it's sort of stomach wrenching.

STAK said...

yep.......that was kickass.........red joy.......i never thought of it as such......but it's probably just cause i see it all the time in the ER.......

Karina said...

As a lover of all things vampire, I loved the turn this took in the end. Very nice!

Unknown said...

You have such a way with words, Julia. Great poem. :)

Danika Dinsmore said...

Hi Julia - Perfect poem for Halloween!

Thanks for cruising over to my blog. I don't think I've been on yours before.

I see you've got The Golden Compass on your challenge list - one of my favourite books. You may as well buy the other two in the series now, because once you finish one, you'll want to dive right into the next one.

And you are one of the only other people I know who watched The Prisoner!! No one ever knows what I'm talking about. I loved that show when I was growing up!

Kelly Boyce said...

Love that foggy picture of the tree - awesome!

Anonymous said...

I like the emphasis on the red color.

Olga said...

Yikes. Way up there on the 'scare the be-je-bahs-outta-yah' meter!!!!!